New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts

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Responses of chitinases in kiwifruit to curing and to long-term storage

K. V. WURMS¹
K. R. SHARROCK²
P. G. LONG¹
D. R. GREENWOOD³
S. GANESH⁴

1Department of Plant Science
Massey University
Private Bag 11 222
Palmerston North, New Zealand

2The Horticulture and Food Research
Institute of New Zealand
Ruakura Research Centre
Private Bag 3123
Hamilton, New Zealand

3The Horticulture and Food Research
Institute of New Zealand
Mt Albert Research Centre
Private Bag 92 169
Auckland, New Zealand

4Department of Statistics
Massey University
Private Bag 11 222
Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract  Endochitinase activity and total protein content increased in stem plugs of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa cv. Hayward (A. Chev.) C.F. Liang et A.R. Ferguson) that were free of disease symptoms and had been "cured" for 7 days at 20deg.C, immediately following harvest. Isoelectric focusing, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and Western blots were used to identify chitinase isoforms induced by this treatment. Curing did not induce new chitinase isoforms, but appeared to increase expression of an existing ~30 kDa protein, with putative chitinase activity, since it bound to antibodies against sugar beet chitinase. Chitinase activity also increased significantly in response to prolonged storage (6 weeks at 0deg.C) and inoculation with the pathogen, Botrytis cinerea (Pers.).

Keywords  Actinidia deliciosa; antibodies; Botrytis cinerea; defence mechanisms; ELISA; host resistance; isoelectric focusing; proteins; Western blotting

New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 1997, Vol. 25: 213-220

0114-0671/97/2503-0213 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1997

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1103K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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